So Very You!

Our second assignment in the Scrap Away the Winter Blues challenge at Scraptivity was to create a layout featuring journaling. My page tells of Alicia's fun-loving nature and her knack for making people laugh. I just adore the little stickers on the bottom of her ballet slippers in this photo!
I've found the entries for this challenge both diverse and creative. More about, (or join in) this great challenge here.

Teddy Bears' Picnic

I get around. I mean it.

In January I made not one but TWO trips to Edmonton. The first, planned. The second, sadly, was to attend the funeral of my dear friend Cathryn's father. On that second trip, I was in Edmonton all of 25 hours. So, while it's been longer than usual between blog posts lately, there's been a good reason for it.

During this time, I've scrapped, I've taken photos, I've worked on my latest DT creations for Scrapalicious, and I've slept occasionally. I have LOTS to post, and I'm finally starting to get caught up now, though.


Thanks for being patient with me.

So in the interim, I'll leave you with this adorable photo of my dear nephew Jared and the favourites from his gigantic collection of Teddy Bears. He was taking them all for a ride around his living room. Not one could be left behind. His favourite - a panda - is unfortunately hidden from view in this photo. Is he adorable, or what? And he sings a mean Mighty Machines!

I'll be back with more scrap-happy stuff as soon as I can catch my breath!

Once Again, We've Got Class!

My friend Leanne and I spend a few fun filled hours last weekend at a great class over at Cherished Scrapbooks, taught by award winning scrapper Vicki Boutin.

We put together three layouts using Scenic Route's new Loveland collection, we foiled, we glittered, and we laughed a whole lot. If you ever have a chance to attend one of Vicki's classes, you simply must go for it! It's a blast, and you learn so much while you're there - about Disney World, Tai food, marshmallows and - of course, scrapbooking!

I will post the layouts I created at the class once I finish adding photos and titles to them. In the interim, check out Vicki's blog by peeking here. It will always bring a smile to your face!

Thanks, Vicki, for a fantastic time!

Winter Blues?

So, in all of my spare time ;-) I've decided to join in on the Scrap Away Your Winter Blues Challenge over at Scraptivity! I'm truly not sure where I'll find the time, but one week into the challenge, I'm keeping pace! Here's my layout for the first challenge, which was to use four different stamps from the same set. I used four stamps from Gel-a-tins Build your own Flourish set, along with 2 other Gel-a-tins sets and one EK Success set here.

Journaling says: Vanessa, when you were 2 years old, all you wanted for Christmas was a penguin. You learned about penguins from the movie Madagascar. I knew that when you opened this present you would be thrilled - and you were. The look on your face was absolutely priceless! The arrival of Douglas - December 25th, 2005, Vanessa 2 years old.

Two Scoops, Please!

While it's not ice cream weather right now, I can't wait to sink my teeth into Basic Grey's new Two Scoops collection. Here is a glimpse at the DT kit I am playing with for Scrapalicious this month. The colours are reminiscent of delicious ice cream scoops, and they're so perfect for Valentine's Day. Stay tuned for creations with this cool kit - coming soon!

Tagged Again!

I've been tagged by my friend Angie and asked to post 5 random and weird things about myself. Since I was previously tagged with a similar request here, I tried to come up with a new list of even weirder things than I had previously mentioned. What do you think - did I do a good job?

1) Since Angie's post mentioned Habitant Pea Soup, here's a tidbit about how we use it in our house. We have invented a meal called Soup and Patty, which consists of a spicy Jamaican meat patty, cut into bite size pieces and dipped into a hot bowl of Habitant Pea Soup. Mmmmmm - it may sound weird, but it's a staple around our house! Don't knock it until you try it.

2) On the topic of weird food combinations, I love to dip hot buttered popcorn into soft serve ice cream. Do it with the popcorn really hot - so tasty!

3) When I moved to Ontario, I quickly dropped many of my western colloquialisms because I was teased endlessly when I used them. One favourite word I have eliminated from my vocabulary is the word "parkade". Really, it's so much more efficient than saying "parking structure", don't you agree? On my recent trip to Edmonton, I saw the happy word within moments of my arrival.

See - I didn't make it up!

4) You all probably already know that I used to play the accordion, so I can't use that weird fact, but I can add that I know how to Irish dance - yes, just like Riverdance!

5) I received a Cuttlebug for Christmas, but haven't had time to take it out of the box yet! Is that weird? Maybe this weekend?

Angie has already tagged my friends Mary and Jen R, so I am tagging Howard & Trish, Tara C, Heather V, Angela and Vanessa. Here are the rules.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Don’t break the chain!

Get blogging, folks!

We Were Rocked!

If you haven't had a chance to see We Will Rock You yet, try to fit it in. I saw it a little while ago, and found the performance a lot of fun and the music fantastic! I went with a group from work, and a few scrapping buddies came along too. We had a great dinner before the show, and I still have Queen music in my head to this day.

We were definitely rocked!

Got Class?

In October 2007, I had a great time at Canada's Scrapbooking Crop for Kids, where I took two classes from awesome New Zealand scrapper Nic Howard. I posted one project earlier here, and said I would post the other layout once I completed it. Well, here it is, and I am thrilled with it! Vanessa's outfit in this photo goes so perfectly with the florals on the layout. The journaling on this page talks about how serious she gets about playing dress up.

Earlier in the year I attended the Divine Design event at The Scrapping Nook, and I've finally finished my layout from Jen Backler's class. It's a fun 2-page layout featuring paper that I adore, Cosmo Cricket.

This layout highlights the people I love most in the whole world, my hubby and kids, and it's appropriately titled Loves of My Life. I can't remember the last time I did a 2-pager, but I love this one. Thanks so much, Jen!

On the topic of classes, I'm really looking forward to playing with Scenic Route's Rockland collection at the next class I am taking later this month. It's being taught by the amazing Vicki Boutin, who is not only incredibly talented, but a total barrel of laughs as well. Vicki, I'm completely looking forward to it. So stay tuned for more class layouts, sometime soon!

A Peek at our Holidays

Our Christmas holidays were wonderful, and we managed to squeeze a lot of activities into our time off. Together with celebrating the reason for the season, we have a number of other annual family traditions. We always set out cookies for Santa, and race over to the cookie plate on Christmas morning to check whether Santa visited and ate his treats. Of course, he always does!
One of the girls' favourite gifts this year was a beautiful white satin wedding gown. They love taking turns walking down the aisle, and playing maid of honour on alternate turns. Here Vanessa is the blushing bride, and Alicia plays her best friend, maid of honour and flower girl in one. Notice the rose petals scattered on the floor!

Evan was big into SpongeBob this year, as well as the toy of the moment - Bakugan. His overall favourite gift, though, was our new aquarium. We're lucky enough to have a cousin who works at a pet store that specializes in fish, and his whole family participated in selecting our very first fish tank. The kids were over the moon!
Having a birthday close to the holidays often means taking a back seat to other Christmas activities. My sweet hubby and the kids made certain that didn't happen to me this year. We spent the whole day together; saw The Bee Movie, sang Happy Birthday, and had a wonderful chocolate cookie cheesecake for dessert that night. Who could ask for more? Happy Birthday to me!
We took advantage of all of the extra Family Skate times at this time of year, and went skating a number of times together. The girls are getting better with each skate! Evan, of course, was skating circles around all of us, and loved playing tag and skating backwards. We also managed to get the sled out to the local hill before the warm weather came and melted away all of the snowy fun!

Visiting with family and friends, getting used to our new fish, eating up the gingerbread house, reading (and a touch of homework here and there) and getting the house back in order also kept us busy throughout the holidays. I even fit in a bit of scrapbooking too!


We've had a wonderful visit with my Mom, and will sure miss her when she heads home at the end of the week. I guess like all good things, even great holidays must come to an end!

New Scrapalicious Designs

Here they are - my first layouts for 2008. These were created for Scrapalicious using the American Crafts Metropolitan collection papers and Fancy Pants' fantastic 12" x 12" felt shapes. If you haven't tried the felt yet, it is thick and sturdy and wonderful to work with. This page features a photo from last summer of Alicia and her eternal companion playing in the sandbox. If we let her, she would take that bear absolutely everywhere with her. You are never alone when you have a Teddy!
In October of last year, I was lucky enough to have taken engagement photos of my brother-in-law Justin and his beautiful fiance (who is now his wife), Rosa. I was thrilled to have the opportunity, and I managed to capture a number of photos that I really treasure. The fall colours of the kit I was working with this month were just perfect for my favourites from that photo shoot. Here I added a bit of sparkle with Doodlebug's sugar coated paper and my new Quickutz Metro font.
Here's is another favourite from the shoot, and I couldn't resist enlarging it, since I really love the white space that the brick wall provides. It seemed to be calling out for the title to be placed right on the photo.

I was really happy to get a good scrapping kick start to the New Year. I hope that this productivity is a sign for 2008. As another little resolution, I've also created a Life List, with my friend Tara's encouragement.I'll post more about that soon, so stay tuned!

Like Riding a Bike?

With how busy the Christmas season was, I barely had a chance to look at my scrapbooking supplies, much less scrap anything!

Well, I've kicked off the scrapping New Year on the right foot - there have been 2 days so far and I've finished 2 pages! These are the long-awaited layouts I've been so anxious to work on for Scrapalicious using American Crafts papers and Fancy Pants felt shapes.

So stay tuned and once I have some good light I will post photos of these newly created pages. I'm pleased to say that I haven't forgotten how to scrap!